Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Ulrich Thomsen and David Dencik have joined the cast of Nikolaj Arcel’s upcoming Hans Christian Andersen biopic My Fairytale Life.
The trio are joined by rising stars Clara Dessau – who was in Cannes 2026 title Low Expectations – Clint Ruben, Josephine Hojbjerg and Anna Sogaard Frandsen, who is in Venice 2026 Competition title Woman Unknown. As announced during Cannes this year, Casper Kjaer Jensen will play the lead role, with production pencilled in for late 2026.
My Fairytale Life will follow Andersen, a socially awkward nobody, who moves to Copenhagen with dreams of conquering Denmark’s cultural elite and becoming a famous artist. In a colourful and merciless world of actors, playwrights and snobbish benefactors, he fights for the recognition and love he desperately craves; but the last thing he wants is to be known as a children’s fairytale writer.
Arcel is writing the script with co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen. The film is produced by Louise Vesth and Tine Mikkelsen for Denmark’s Zentropa, with TrustNordisk handling international sales.
It is a Zentropa Entertainments production in co-production with Zentropa Berlin Gmbh, with support from the Danish Film Institute Market Scheme, FilmFyn, The Danish Production Incentive Scheme, Eurimages, the MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, FFA German Federal Film Funding, and in co-production with Film i Väst. It is made co-operation with TV 2, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and NRK, and co-funded by the European Union.
The film marks the first collaboration between Kaas and Arcel, two leading lights of the Danish film scene.
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